Books by Sonoma County Genealogical Society

In 2014, the Friends of Santa Rosa Libraries funded a project to convert the microfilm images of the existing Sonoma County Superior Court record indices to digital images. Volunteers from the Sonoma County Genealogical Society transcribed the records of the General Plaintiff Index, volume 2, and the General Defendant Index, volume 2, from these digital images for the years 1880 through 1889. Volunteers also abstracted information from eight volumes of original Sonoma County Superior Court Registers of Actions housed at the Sonoma County Archives for the same time period.This book is arranged in two sections: A comprehensive name index for all Sonoma County Superior Court suits from 1880 through 1889 and a listing of each suit's suit number, plaintiffs, defendants, cause, Register of Actions volume and page number(s) reference, and action date. A total of 2337 Sonoma County Superior Court suits for the years 1880 through 1889 are indexed in this publication. The suits are numbered 1 to 2326 with eleven suits using non-integers. Both civil and criminal cases are included.

The Sonoma County Genealogical Society receives many requests for information regarding early families which is to be expected, as in 1870 Sonoma County was the sixth in State population and many of those early families are represented in the county today. As birth certificates are considered a prime source for family records the Society is pleased to offer their third publication which lists over 3200 applications dating from May 1943 through December 1976, covering birth years 1855 through 1971. This information should prove invaluable to genealogical researchers and be of interest to local historians.

The information presented in this four volume series is taken from Marriage License Affidavits currently housed at the Sonoma County History and Genealogy Library in Santa Rosa, California. Affidavits are the application for a marriage license and may well include persons who never actually married. The date may or may not coincide with the actual marriage date of those who did, in fact, get married. Volume I covers A through F; Volume II covers G through M; Volume III covers N through Z; and Volume IV is an index to brides' surnames. Entries in the first three volumes are listed alphabetically according to surname of the groom. The original data is preserved on eight reels of microfilm and contains approximately 14,000 records. In many cases, the condition of the microfilm is exceedingly poor, and the handwritten entries vary from readable to totally unreadable. Many parental consent forms were handwritten notes. Two, and sometimes three, persons reviewed each record to ensure the best possible abstraction of information. Part One of Volume III lists the surname and given name of the groom, surname and given name of the bride, date of application, and comments such as consent of a guardian for brides under the age of eighteen and grooms under the age of twenty-one. In a few cases, birth dates or other pertinent information is given. Part Two of Volume III lists the surname, given name and age of the groom; surname, given name and age of the bride; place of residence (town/city); and place of birth (state or country).